Getting an Aten Serial to USB adapter working on 10.9+

NOTE: ATEN have now written a driver for Yosemite that works! Not sure about the driver for Mavericks. Just download it here. Just install it, reboot and away you go.

I'm using an ATEN UC232A adapter. I got this from here. I've adapted it slightly for 10.9 (Mavericks).

1. Plug in your adapter and run "System Information" application and click on the USB devices, looking for "USB-Serial Conroller". When you click on it you'll get something like:

  USB-Serial Controller D:
  
    Product ID:	0x2008
    Vendor ID:	0x0557  (ATEN International Co. Ltd.)
    Version:	 3.00
    Speed:	Up to 12 Mb/sec
    Manufacturer:	Prolific Technology Inc. 
    Location ID:	0x14100000 / 8
    Current Available (mA):	500
    Current Required (mA):	100

The Producut ID and Vendor ID numbers are important. You can use the "Calculator" app, to convert them to base 10: 0x2008=8200 and 0x0557=1367.

2. Download and install the drivers from the Prolific website here.

NOTE: The Aten UC232A and the Prolific PL2303 are basically the same device and the Prolific drivers are maintained!

3. After your reboot, edit /System/Library/Extensions/ProlificUsbSerial.kext/Contents/Info.plist

  sudo vim /System/Library/Extensions/ProlificUsbSerial.kext/Contents/Info.plist

Find the idProduct and idVendor fields and change them to the values we calculated earlier:

  <key>idProduct</key>
  <integer>8200</integer>
  <key>idVendor</key>
  <integer>1367</integer>

They both appear in two different places, so change both.

4. Unplug the adapter and restart the kernel extension (or just reboot):

  sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions/ProlificUsbSerial.kext

5. It should now be working.

You can now use it using your favourite terminal emulator or the screen command:

  screen /dev/tty.usbserial 9600

Ctrl a \ to exit!